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"Astronomers are used to large numbers, but few are as large as the
odds I'd have given this celebration today," is how Astronomer Royal Martin
Rees started his presentation at Stephen Hawking's birthday symposium
yesterday. He was talking about the 1960s when he first met
Hawking who was then already suffering motor neurone disease. But Rees'
prediction has been proved wrong. Hawking turned 70
yesterday and since the time of their first meeting he has made enormous contributions to cosmology and
physics.

Martin Rees explaining the interconnectedness of the microworld and cosmos.

Yesterday's programme was impressive. Rees' talk was a dizzying journey
through cosmology, starting with Earth-like planets orbiting far-away
stars and ending with the multiverse. Nobel
laureate Saul
Perlmutter drew as much laughter as amazement, exploring how he and other experimentalists
discovered that the Universe is expanding at an ever accelerating
rate, setting us on course for a big freeze. Kip Thorne, who has been at the forefront
of black hole research since its inception, took us on a terrifying
journey into these gravitational monsters and the spacetime ripples
caused by them. We will publish Rees' lecture on Plus very soon. See the reading list below for more on the contents of Perlmutter and Thorne's talk.

The only disappointment of the day was the absence of its protagonist — Stephen Hawking was unable to attend due to ill health. We did get to
listen to a pre-recorded version of his presentation, however, and we will
publish parts of it on Plus soon. The day ended with
tumultuous applause and a standing ovation for the most iconic
scientist of his generation.

It was definitely one of the most touching, funny and fascinating scientific events we've ever attended and we've tried to capture some of the atmosphere for you. So if you weren't one of the lucky few who managed to get hold of a ticket, listen to our podcast in which we talk to Martin Rees, some of Hawking's ex-students, his graduate assistant, as well as members of the audience.